John Fletcher Hurst
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'''John Fletcher Hurst''' (1834-1903) was a [[bishop]] in the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] in the [[United States]] and first Chancellor of the [[American University]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]
Born on [[August 17]] [[1834]], in [[Salem, Maryland|Salem]], [[Dorchester County, Maryland]], he died on [[May 4]] [[1903]], in [[Bethesda, Maryland]].
Hurst graduated from [[Dickinson College]] in [[1854]], and in [[1856]] went to [[Germany]] to Study at the [[Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg|University of Halle]] and the [[University of Heidelberg]].
From [[1858]] to [[1866]] he was engaged in pastoral work in America, and from [[1866]] to [[1870]] he filled a five-year appointment as [[Professor]] of [[Systematic Theology]] at the [[Martin Mission Institute]] in [[Bremen (city)|Bremen]], [[Germany]]. In 1870, Hurst was chosen to teach [[Historical Theology]] at [[Drew University|Drew Theological Seminary]] in [[Madison, New Jersey]], where he was elected [[President]] in [[1873]], serving until elected to the [[Episcopacy]] in [[1880]].
Through his devotion, Hurst, recovered the endowment of [[Drew University|Drew Theological Seminary]], lost by the failure in [[1876]] of [[Daniel Drew]], its founder; and with [[John McClintock]] and [[George Richard Crooks]] he improved the quality of Methodist scholarship.
As Bishop he was assigned to [[Des Moines]], [[Iowa]]. He subsequently served as the first chancellor of the [[American University]] (Methodist Episcopal) in [[Washington, D.C.]], where through his work finances were secured and the university first opened. He served as chancellor from [[1891]] until his death.
On the campus of American University, there is an academic building named after Bishop Hurst.
He published:
*''A History of Rationalism'' (1866)
*[[Karl Rudolf Hagenbach|Hagenbach]]'s ''Church History of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries'' (2 vols, 1869)
*[[Jan Jakob van Oosterzee|van Oosterzee]]'s ''John's Gospel: Apologetical Lectures'' (1869)
*[[Johann Peter Lange|Lange]]'s ''Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans'' (1869)
*''Martyrs to the Tract Cause: A Contribution to the History of the Reformation'' (1872)
*a translation and revision of [[Karl Otto August Thelemann|Thelemann]]'s ''Martyrer der Traktatsache'' (1864)
*''Outlines of Bible History'' (1873)
*''Outlines of Church History'' (1874)
*''Life and Literature in the Fatherland'' (1875), brilliant sketches of Germany
*a brief pamphlet, ''Our Theological Century'' (1877)
*''Bibliotheca Theologica'' (1883), a compilation by his students, revised by GW Gillmore in 1895 under the title ''Literature of Theology''
*''Indika: the Country and People of India and Ceylon'' (1891), the outgrowth of his travels in 1884-1885 when he held the conferences of India
*several church histories (Chautauqua text-books) published together as ''A Short History of the Christian Church'' (1893).
==See also==
*[[List of Bishops of the United Methodist Church]]
== External links ==
* Biographical Notes: Presidents and Key Figures in the History of Drew University (Drew Univ. Library) [http://depts.drew.edu/lib/archives/bios.php]
{{start box}}
{{succession box |
title = [[American University|Chancellor, American University]] |
years = 1890-1902 |
before = None |
after = [[Charles Cardwell McCabe]] |
}}
{{end box}}
----
{{1911}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurst, John Fletcher}}
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1903 deaths]]
[[Category:Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church]]
[[Category:American university and college presidents]]
[[Category:Historians of religion]]
[[Category:American Methodist bishops]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:American pamphlet writers]]
[[Category:Translators from German]]
[[Category:Biblical scholars]]
[[Category:Translators from Dutch]]
[[Category:American theologians]]
[[Category:Methodist theologians]]
[[Category:Systematic theologians]]
[[Category:English-language writers]]